World

AP Photographer Killed in Afghanistan: A Look Through Her Lens

An Afghan soldier, left, and a police man peek through a window as they queue with others to get their registration card on the last day of voter registration for the upcoming presidential elections outside a school in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, April 1, 2014.

The two were traveling in their own car with a convoy of election workers delivering ballots from the center of Khost city to the outskirts of Tani district. The convoy was protected by Afghan forces when the police opened fire on the car, which also held a translator and driver.

Niedringhaus was an internationally acclaimed German photographer who has covered conflict zones in Kuwait, Iraq, Gaza, Libya and the West Bank. She had traveled to Afghanistan numerous times since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, and was covering the upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan slated to take place on April 5.

AP Vice President and Director of Photography Santiago Lyon, who has known and worked with Niedringhaus for 22 years, sent the following statement to Mashable:

Anja was one of the most talented, bravest and accomplished photojournalists of her generation.

Her storytelling skill with a camera was extraordinarily effective, a reflection of her own open gaze and genuine compassion for her subjects.

Her enthusiasm and good cheer were infectious, even in the darkest of circumstances. She consistently volunteered for the hardest assignments and was remarkably resilient in carrying them out time after time. She truly believed in the need to bear witness.

Niedringhaus leaves behind a portfolio of poignant and telling photographs that gave viewers a glimpse into daily life in conflict zones worldwide. Her attention to composition and light came together not only to tell insightful stories, but also to create stunning works of art. Her courage and talent will live on through her art, which you can get a taste of, below.

Anja Niedringhauss' Legacy in Photos

A U.S. Marine of the First Division carries a mascot for good luck in his backpack as his unit pushed further into the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, on Nov. 14, 2004.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

A Canadian soldier with the 1st RCR Battle Group chases a chicken seconds before he and his unit were attacked by grenades during a patrol in Salavat, southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan on Sept. 11, 2010.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

A truck en route to Kandahar, Afghanistan, drives past people at a store in Quetta, Pakistan, on Feb. 8, 2011. Fuel for NATO troops in southern Afghanistan is transported along dangerous routes by impoverished Pakistani drivers.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

A Libyan rebel, draped in the old Libyan flag, prays at the entrance to the city of Ajdabiya, south of Benghazi, eastern Libya, March 26, 2011.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

A US Marine on his way to pick up food supplies outside Forward Operating Base Edi in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, June 9, 2011.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

Lance Cpl. Blas Trevino of the First Battalion, 5th Marines, clinches onto his rosary beads as he is rescued onto a helicopter in southern Afghanistan on June 11, 2011.

A Pakistani man prepares balloons for Valentines Day on a street in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Feb. 14, 2012.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

A Pakistani Army soldier with the 20th Lancers Armored Regiment stands atop a 8,000-foot mountain during a patrol near his outpost, Kalpani Base, in Pakistan's Dir province on Feb. 17, 2012.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

An Afghan man watches his pigeons after feeding them in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 8, 2012.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

An Afghan National policeman seen through a windscreen of an armored vehicle shattered by a single bullet in Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on Oct. 18, 2012.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

An Afghan man with his son's gaze at toys hanging outside a store in the center of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Oct. 23, 2012.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

Pakistani children peek under a curtain that hides the residence inside a home of a poor neighborhood in Mingora, in the Swat Valley, Pakistan, on Nov 14, 2012 -- one month after a Taliban gunman shot Malala Yousufzai in the Swat Valley.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

An Afghan woman peers through the eye slit of her burqa as she waits to try on a new burqa in a shop in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 11, 2013. Despite advances in women’s rights, Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative country and most women continue to wear the burqa.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

Pakistani policemen leave a Christian community after angry Christians protested the beating of a young man belonging to the Joseph Colony in Lahore, Pakistan, on April 30, 2013.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

Afghan Army soldiers gather at a military training facility in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 8, 2013.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

An Afghan boy flies his kite on a hill overlooking Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 13, 2013. Banned during the Taliban regime, kite flying is once again the main recreational escape for Afghan boys and some men.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

An Afghan National police officer mans a checkpoint in the outskirts of Maidan Shahr in the Wardak province of Afghanistan on May 15, 2013.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

An Afghan honor of guard stands next to pictures of late Afghan Vice President Field Marshal Mohammed Qasim outside his house in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 10, 2014.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

A picture of Afghan President Hamid Karzai hangs on a wall in the main room of the district municipality in eastern Kabul on March 29, 2014.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

Afghan women with a child line up to get their registration cards on the last day of voter registration for the upcoming presidential elections outside a school in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 1, 2014.

Image: Anja Niedringhaus /Associated Press

An Afghan soldier, left, and a policeman peek through a window as they line up to get their registration cards on the last day of voter registration for the upcoming presidential elections outside a school in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 1, 2014.

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